Thousands Flock to Civil Service Test

“Can I get a train ticket to Seoul in the morning of October 1?” It is not Chuseok. On October 1, when there was a competitive exam for Seoul civil servants, all train tickets from Busan to Seoul were sold out. 500 are on the waiting list, and there were phone calls asking for tickets to Seoul on that day. In response, KORAIL decided to run a 5:10 a.m. special train from Busan to Seoul on October 1.

“We have never seen KTX tickets sold out in such a short time on days other than holidays. Clearly, civil servant jobs are the most popular jobs these days,” said a worker at KORAIL.

This year, competition for competitive civil servant exams for grade 7 and grade 9 is higher than ever before.

A total of 87,857 people applied for 100 grade 9 civil servant seats in the admission due July 28, recording an admission rate of 878.6 to 1.

Exams for grade 7 and 9 local civil servants are also highly competitive.

Seoul city saw the most applicants ever in the application due August 4, recording an admission rate of 162 to 1, having 151,097 applicants for 932 openings. Busan had 23,462 applicants for 253 seats, 92.7 to 1, in the exam that took place on July 21.

As more candidates apply in regions where they do not live, the day of the exam is literally an emergency for local governments and applicants.

Seoul is worried about examination rooms as 33,000 more candidates applied this year.

“We will need 1,100 more examination places than last year. We requested district offices to arrange more schools, but it is not that simple,” said a Seoul City official. Last year, 80 buildings, 3,684 classrooms, and 20,000 inspectors were mobilized for the exam.

There have been no limits to age or academic background to apply for the exams since 2005. Therefore, many people apply but do not show up for the exam.

As many as 54% of applicants did not show up for the exam in Seoul in 2005, an increase from 36% in 2004.

Applicants are applying for administrative or public health workers where there are no required qualifications. The admission rate for Seoul’s grade 9 public health workers was 730.4 to 1, the highest than any other places.

“Applicants who initially planned to apply for grade 5 exam are actually submitting applications for grade 7 exam because they are desperate to just pass the exam. I recommend taking the exam because the competition is not as high as it seems,” said Lim Byeong-ung, head of Junganagosi, a private institution for civil servant exam preparation.

gaea@donga.com